


Temptation waits

by undisguised



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drug Use, F/M, Recreational Drug Use, rich kids being dicks, sorry i suck at descriptions and naming chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23752186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undisguised/pseuds/undisguised
Summary: Mai never had big expectations for the summer. Same people, same parties, same self-destructive habits.Nothing prepared her for what was about to come.
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 104





	1. That Madison Montgomery meme

After a two-hour drive that felt eternal trough the heat, Mai finally arrived to republic city. 

Life is unfair. After having to suffer through nine months of med school she shouldn’t be punished by the spending the next 3 months in her parents house. They threatened to get rid of her allowance, she’s not sure why they want her so much in there, it’s not like her parents pretend to like her anymore. She doesn’t mind, she doesn’t like them either. 

In the end, in an uncharacteristic move, she yielded. After all it’s not like she had much going on in Omashu. There were a couple of friends, there were a couple of parties, there were a couple of drugs and there were a couple of fuck buddies, some great, some okay, but they made up with their availability and compliance. 

She could find all those things in republic city after all, and it is much easier with daddy’s credit card. 

There was one red light left before arriving at the gates of her condominium. There was a new guard after she heard some broke and entered to one of her neighbor's house, not only did the whole family get tied up, the robbers also stole their dog. Ever since then the security has gotten tighter, so it was a nightmare to sign all those papers just to get a stupid little sensor on her car that would open the gates to hell. Yippie. 

She passed by Rion Jon’s house (yuck). She passed Ty Lee’s (she missed her, to be honest she always does). She passed the countless houses of politicians, doctors, lawyers, whose names and faces she couldn’t differentiate because they were all the same. All that money just to become a copy of the person living next to you? Frankly, she can believe it. 

She passed by Azula’s house and a quick flash of what summer was going to look like travelled through her thoughts. She couldn’t see behind the big gates but she knew, there was probably a new Bentley parked in there. 

She parked her Audi in the garage and the next thing was just keeping up the charade. She passed through the kitchen, introduced herself to the maid and Tom Tom’s nanny. She wonders how much this one will last. Said hi to her dad, who was yelling on the phone in his studio. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a heart attack. And waved at her mother from afar as she was discussing with the decorator about which corner seemed like a good place to position an antique vase. She smiled back with enthusiasm, almost as if she was happy to see her, well... that was new. 

Her room remained the same as she left it the last time, which is exactly how she left it the first time she went off to college. Posters were filled on the wall along with a corner tapered with her drawings. Her vanity remained with jewelry passed down from her mother that she would never wear. The only thing that changed were the covers of her bed, last time she checked they were red not pink. 

She was surprised to find a gift with Dior written all over it, the card read “Saw it and thought of you! See you tonight at my party!” and it was a surrounded by hand-drawn hearts, “Ps. Arrive earlier.” There was no signature, which isn’t necessary because it was pretty clear who it came from. 

The truth is that coming back never made an impact on her, the first time she came home from college she arrived with a weird expectation of things having changed but the minute she stepped foot in town she realized that everything was exactly the same, ever since then things haven’t been clearer, there’s nothing to expect anymore. 

She walked into her closet, grabbed a simple black bikini and pulled her hair in a ponytail. She pushed Ty Lee’s gift in the bridge of her nose, she had to admit Ty Lee knew how to pick gifts, the shades glimmered as she walked through the hall of the second floor and made her way to the terrace. Her mother never understood why she preferred that spot instead of the lawn or the pool, but she had a good reason: she was the only one that liked that spot; therefore, she was the only one there, therefore it was perfect. 

She bathed herself in sunscreen and adjusted the volume of the speaker, trying to bask in on the first rays of light. Most people assume Mai doesn’t like to sunbathe because of how pale she looks. 

From up here she could observe everyone without being observed. She saw the gardener trimming the bushes, some workers fixing the paint form the tennis court, Tom Tom squirting water guns with his snotty little friends and the backyard from the German family next door she has never met. 

Despite the high bushes and the distance, she also had a perfect view to Ozai’s mansion. 

Everything was the usual. 

Wait, no. 

She lifted her sunglasses to see better. A muscular back was rising back and forth, as a man she has never seen before was doing push-ups with weight on his back. Just by that image she could judge that he was only a little older than her, there’s no way he was Azula’s boyfriend since the last time she saw her she was still a huge pussy eating lesbian. Hopefully he was one of Ozai’s neurotic assistants, those guys were insane, but she already has fucked two and she had to admit if the factory was still open she wouldn’t mind shagging another one of those sociopaths as long as he made her toes curl. 

Her thoughts got interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. 

“´Sup.” 

“MAI!” A loud squeal ringed trough her ears, it was Ty Lee. “There’s no need to tell me, I know you’re here. I asked the guard to notify me the minute you arrived!” 

“Then why the hell did he make such a fuss about letting me in.” Mai couldn’t contain her sarcasm from dripping, everyone that knew her was well aware of that. 

“Come on, he’s just doing his job!” 

“Isn’t it sort of his job to protect me from stalkers like you?” 

“Not if said stalker is you best friend!” 

Mai smiled; she never showed her teeth. “So, what’s so important that you had to call instead of sending a text?” 

“Two things,” she begun explaining, “First, I talked to Azula and apparently she broke up with her girlfrie—wait, now that I tell you this, I think that makes it three things.” 

“No, it makes it two because I already knew about that.” You can tell when Azula is dating because she disappears, you can tell when she is not because she makes it on all those Instagram accounts dedicated to the dear socialite of republic city.... yes, there are even fanclubs dedicated about her, god knows why. 

“Such a shame I really liked her ex.” 

“I never even met her,” Mai remarks. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter now, what matter is that because of that the party is being moved to Azula’s house!” Ty Lee cheered, mostly because she was glad, she didn’t have to take responsibility for any mess that will happen tonight. 

“Great, instead of walking two blocks, I only have to walk a couple of meters now.” She was genuinely happy about; in another universe she might have shown her teeth in a smile. “So, what’s the other thing.” 

“Well, my sister didn’t really tell me much and I tried to coerce some information out of Azula but I couldn’t get there, I was afraid to touch a sensitive spot.” 

Mai rose her eyebrows and instinctively looked at backyard next door again. Just when she thought all this time that no one could see her from that spot she was wrong. She could see clearly that there was someone watching her. 

And that person was no one other than Azula’s stranged brother. Zuko. 

They made eye contact from afar and quickly turned their heads. 

“You know what, I don’t really want to know.”


	2. It was all a dream

“So... where are you going?”

Mai almost dropped her keys but she never lost her cool façade. Still, she was startled by the sight of her mother standing by the staircase with a bathrobe and a cup of tea, allegedly. A rando once told her that pills hit faster when dissolved in warm water, and wouldn’t her mother know about that.

She raised an eyebrow, never in her whole 23 years of her career as Michi and Ukano’s daughter had she been asked that, in fact, her mother encouraged her to go out the minute she turned fourteen. “Neighbor’s,” she simply replied.

Her mother nodded, looking disappointed. “Well, I was hoping we could have a girl’s night or something of the sort. I haven’t seen you in so long.”

Mai resisted the urge of vomiting right then and there. She didn´t know what was worse, the prospect of having to endure her mother’s endless criticism of her appearance under the guise of a fun makeover or the fact that she was acting extremely out of character and she wasn’t liking it one bit? She could have answered bitingly, but she wasn’t going to entertain her any longer, plus her phone started already buzzing with texts from Azula asking her to hurry up. She simply told her, “...Maybe someday,” and hoped that will keep her happy.

“Perfect, I won't keep you any longer. Have fun!” Michi smiled. “Don’t forget to use protec-”

Mai widened her eyes. “Okay, I'm going, bye now.”

She paced rapidly out of the door, one more minute with her and she was probably going to generate some lifelong trauma that no therapy could repair.

She didn’t make it into the gate before taking off her heels. These Blahnik's were gorgeous and matched her silver Versace dress, but they were not comfortable at all so if these people she didn’t really care about expected her to stand all night in them then there was no way she was going to walk in these to Azula’s house. People may say ‘oh, it’s just next door’, but newsflash, these weren’t tiny suburban houses, they were 10.000 feet houses. Which for republic city it meant no only status but also a symbol of ‘I could literally make you disappear and nobody will find out’ level of wealth.

“You’re late... that’s shocking,” Azula snarked as she appeared from the shadows of the main door.

If anybody could ever rival Mai’s tone it was her, the heiress of Republic city. She hated Azula’s guts sometimes and she could do better most times when she kept her mouth shut (but she did miss her). “Hello to you too.” She handed her coat to the nearest slave on a pay roll.

No hugging, no cheek kissing. Again, maybe that’s why they get along, they hate physical contact and have the same ability to get annoyed with everything and dissect it with the hard truth. That’s friendship for you.

Ty Lee jumped from the couch straight into Mai, grabbing her in a tight asphyxiating hug. Yeah, yeah, she just said she hated physical contact but she might make an exception for a few people. Ty Lee grabbed Azula’s arm and pulled her into a group hug, both girls groaning at the sudden display of affection. “I missed you guys so much! I can’t believe summer’s finally here; we’re going to have such a great time!”

“Yippie,” Mai sighed.

\-----------------------------------

Mai didn’t hold herself back on the champagne. Azula offered to let them stay in a guest room, which was great because she was dreading having to walk all the way back with painful blisters and the urge to vomit. Despite there being countless of rooms, Ty Lee and her always chose to sleep together in the same one as always. It was fun. The room had a king-sized bed and a closet filled with clothes they wore in high school, there were definitely some odd choices in there. Mai grabbed her the first shirt she saw and unfolded it. Obviously, it was hers, it was black and had a Blink-182 logo in it.

Ty Lee entered holding a small golden chest. She sat in front of the vanity and started trying on all of Azula’s silver earrings, most valued in 5 figures. To Mai they were all the same, but to Ty Lee it was fundamental to find the perfect pair to match her Satin pink dress, she needed something to differentiate her from the other Fashion Nova influencers, and that difference was having actual money to look expensive.

Mai sunk into the mattress and scrolled endlessly trough Instagram. Ty lee observed her trough the mirror, “So... you actually saw Zuko?”

She kept herself glued to her phone. “I don’t know if it was him but I think so, I mean he has a...” she motioned to her left eye, “huge scar. Haven’t you seen him?”

Ty Lee perked up and turned around. “I have not, and I don’t expect to see him either. This house is huge!”

Mai nodded; it was true. “Maybe he doesn’t even live here.”

“I tried to coax some info out of Azula but she avoided it, she’s clearly not happy.” Ty Lee scratched her temple. “I still can’t believe you saw him; it’s been like... what? Twelve years since we last saw him?”

Mai nodded again and dropped her phone on her stomach. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t intrigued. There’s ton of urban legends surrounding his disappearance. People believed he died in a fire in their first home, but his father never said a thing. Mai never thought it was true because there had been a funeral for their mother, Ursa, but not one for him. However, he didn’t attend. He hasn’t been seen since. Azula avoided answering any question related to him. Even to this day.

“How did he look like?” Mai could tell Ty Lee refrained herself from asking that but ultimately gave in. She was trying to become less superficial ever since her CEO boyfriend cheated on her with her college roommate who was a chemistry major with tons of split ends and myopia. They even got engaged... with the ring he was supposed to give to her. Instead of dwelling on her own pity (she would never feel sorry for herself and she wasn’t about to do it now) she took it as a life lesson. She was trying, but old habits die hard.

Mai pondered. She replayed the scene on her head, of her eyes setting on his in a split of a second. It was brief but it bought to the surface something deep inside of her, she didn’t know if she was hot and bothered or if it was something else, and frankly it was unsettling. This was unlikely about her since she could make up her mind about the men she met in a few seconds, it wasn’t hard to tell which ones were jerks, which ones were just for sex and which ones she should avoid.

“Well, the scar wasn’t a turn off, quite the opposite. And he’s shredded. I don’t know, I really can’t compare him to anything, I barely remember how he looked like as a kid.”

Ty Lee stared at her with her big bright eyes; the gossip had her into some sort of trance. “I don’t know but I have a weird feeling about this. Do you think we might see him tonight?”

“I doubt it. If Azula doesn’t want to talk about it, much less he wants to see him.”

Although, behind the barrier of repression, a part of her hoped he would be there.

* * *

It was already 4AM and people were wasted. She forgot what it was like to party like a rich kid, and now she’s reminded of how much she hates it. She was used to small encounters with her friends from Omashu, where they used to sit down on any given day to study and end up having a smoking session and get wine drunk until they had to take turns to vomit blast in Kei Lo’s bathroom. They were spontaneous and surged mostly because Kei Lo always found a new Top on Grindr that he wanted to lend his ass too and needed an excuse for them to come over. They also went out once a month to underground raves and did every drug they could get their hands on, and if she was feeling ballsy, she would buy VIP tickets for them both to music festivals so Kei Lo could fuck gay Dj’s that were still in the closet. She remembers the first time she bought him one, he cried for an hour because he couldn’t afford it, it took her a while to make him understand that it was a gift and that he shouldn’t make a fuss about it. Now, she’s like his sugar mommy and she doesn’t mind.

She missed him. She’d rather be doing facetime with him right now, smoking a blunt while The Sopranos ran in the background. She should pressure him to finally come visit her, sooner rather than later, but he has an habit of being bluntly truthful when he’s on ectasy and told her that he was nervous of meeting her parents and that he felt sort of ashamed. Another reason for Mai to hate her parents, because it is truth, they would be condescending towards him.

Despite being into some drugs, she had the luck to not generate a dependency towards them. But if there was one that she would never ever touch it would be coke, and these parties reminded her why. Ever since her 18th birthday Azula started putting a bowl full of blow in all of her parties for her guests, by now it was empty and she was pretty sure that that up-and-coming singer she could not bother to learn her name had snorted half of it the moment she walked in. Bad girl, she needed to learn how to share if she wanted to make it big.

She thought it was disgusting. Yuck. She tried it once before and she quickly regretted it after doing one line, it didn’t even hit her and she was thankful for that. Everyone she saw that was coked out looked stupid and ridiculous. She didn’t even have fingers left to count how many people she has met that have to had their nose reconstructed after snorting for years and years.

But the most chilling thing was when—no, she wasn’t going to think about it, not today.

Mai pressed her back on the railing of the terrace, Azula saw her from afar and decided to join her. “Did you powder your nose today?” Mai asks without judgement. She knows Azula uses recreationally.

“Yes, but not as much as Ty Lee.” They both looked behind them to the backyard and saw Ty Lee doing cartwheels with two guys she probably met two minutes ago.

“How long has this been going on?” She asks, she knew Ty Lee used from time to time, but there was an increase worry inside of her that she have started to consume more regularly in the past year. Whenever she brings it up, she insists it’s controlled. She believes her, but how long will it take until she can’t control it anymore?

“Well, in between her retirement and the cheating, she has been going out much more.” Azula took a sip of her drink.

Mai blinked and downed the rest of her drink. “So, what about you?”

She looked at Mai, shrugged, and drank all of it as well. “Well, I'm thinking of starting my campaign to become the youngest governor of republic city.”

“That should be fun,” Mai said sarcastically.

“Ha. Ha. Laugh all you want now but when you’ll need a favor, you’ll be calling me.”

“Mm, I'm pretty sure I won’t.” Mai smirked and Azula smirked back. This was their way of showing affection and they were fine with it.

A minute of comfortable silence and Azula sighed, which was rare to see her exasperated over anything. She’s so controlled she’s sure she's been constipated since her crib days. She turned around, her body now facing the yard. “Look, this of it as the coke speaking. I will say this once and I expect it to never be mentioned it again.”

Mai’s eyes widened slightly, she turned around to mirror her posture. “What is it?”

“You remember my brother Zuko, right?”

Mai nodded. Oh boy.

“Well, these past few months while I was finishing my doctorate on financial business in Shanghai, something must have happened while I was gone because when I arrived, he was here as if he always lived here.”

She pretended to be shocked, but was yawning internally. She knew this already, don’t blame her.

“I don’t know what the hell happened, and I haven’t really talked to him other than ‘hello’ and ‘pass me the salt’.” Azula got a Marlboro out of her Moschino custom made pack. She brought it to her lips and lit it up with the candle that was in the corner. Mai’s body followed Azula’s movements as she paced. “My father tells me to mind my own business, that they’re just working together, but there’s something there that doesn’t make sense to me.”

“I-” Mai opened her mouth, then shut, the talked again, “Look Azula, I don’t think I can give you any advice—”

“I don’t really want your advice, you’re terrible at giving it.”

Mai crosses her arms. “That’s fair.”

“I invited him today but I don’t think he has even gotten out of his room.” Azula blew smoke into the air, the tip of the cigarette stained in her red lipstick. She left her mark as if it was a signature. “Look, I need your help to get information out of him. He used to have a crush on you when he was nine and I haven’t seen any girl around the house, so he’s probably single. I might be bold to add the he’s probably not even getting laid.”

Ok, too much information. She doesn’t know what’s more shocking, the fact that he had a crush on her and she never knew or that Azula might even wonder about his sex life. “Azula, that was years ago, I wouldn’t take you to be making decisions based on whether he had a crush on me back when he barely knew how to tie his shoes.”

Azula sneered at her, then reluctantly admitted, “Mai. How many times have I asked somebody for help?”

Mai thought about it. She was right. Still, she didn’t like this at all. “So, what? You’re my pimp now?”

“Come on, don’t be so sensitive.” Azula rolled her eyes. “I asked because I think you might be his type. If it doesn’t work, I'll ask Ty Lee.”

Mai sighed. She knew this wasn’t the right thing, but in comparison to what most of the people in this party have done working as Azula’s spy was tame if anything. “Fine.”

“Look, I don’t really need any details, I don’t care what you do. Just tell me when you have something that might interest me.” Azula took a long drag of her cigarette before stomping it into the crowd. “Right now, I have to keep the company happy, so when this is over, I'll pop up by your room and we can watch a horror movie and make fun of Ty Lee for old time’s sake.”

Mai agreed with her plans and Azula made her way inside the room, the lace train of her black Gucci dress following swiftly behind her.

* * *

Hooking up with Zuko. That shouldn’t be too hard. After all he was a guy and all guys wanted one thing: Sex. She wasn’t going to brag, but she definitely could give him that and then some.

But he wasn’t here right now and she really wanted to get laid. It’s been what... like three weeks? In young adult language that meant a lifetime. In her defense, her latest fuck buddy from med school was a Taiwanese guy with drinking problems so you might understand that the factory wasn’t always up and running.

She had an urge to tell Ty Lee what happened but she probably was busy flirting with those two guys she met. She doesn’t understand her. She has an habit of flirting with guys that are annoying to talk to and she doesn’t even want to sleep with them, despite that it’s probably the only good thing they’re at. Whatever, to each their own.

She scanned the room looking for her victim. There were a few she already had but she wasn’t feeling any of them, there were some incredibly handsome ones, but she wasn’t down with having small talk and god forbid there might be a chance they wanted to actually get know her. So, no thanks.

She made her way into the other room. Bingo.

She found Ruon-Jian flirting with a swedish model dressed in red. She didn’t care, she walked up to him anyways. “Hey, are you busy?”

“Yeah, he kind of is,” Inga, or whatever, said.

“I’m not talking to you.” Mai didn’t even look at her.

“Not really, why?” He pulled his hair to the side. She couldn’t see Inga’s face but she was probably fuming. She hated Ruon-Jian but she didn’t hate his dick, plus he didn’t make drama about having protected sex. That’s a valuable thing nowadays.

“Do I have to spell it to you?” She said in a lower tone that’d be sure to make him tingle.

He didn’t have the time to ask where they should go before they found their way down the hall leading to guest rooms. It took an eternity to get there, he was really big on foreplay and on pressing her against on invaluable art pieces, “...Because you’re art.”

She pressed her lips on his, not because she was flattered, quite the opposite, she wanted him to shut up. They tried on every guest room, but they were all locked, even hers. She wasn’t bothered by that, in fact, she was proud of Ty Lee, she hoped she had a threesome, and hopefully they were the type of guys that didn’t mind playing with each other as well, otherwise what was the point?

“Fuck! They’re all occupied.” He sounded really really frustrated as he fumbled with the last door knob. Mai managed to hold back a silly laugh at his inability to regulate his emotions over something so stupid. “Whatever, the bathroom will do.” She agreed to that and they made out their way to the bathroom, turning left to the hall where it was located.

Once again, he played frustratingly with the knob and Mai sighed. He banged on the door. “Hurry up, man! I’m really horny!”

She grabbed him by the hair and he yelped. “What is your issue? Either you calm down or I'll leave you dry.”

“I won’t be able to if you do that.” He wiggled his eyebrows. She was intrigued by this new piece of information, later she’ll ask him where he picked up a liking to that because it clearly wasn’t because of her. “And sorry, I may have a few lines more that I'm accustomed to.” He grabbed her by the waist and they started making out again.

They didn’t notice the sound of the toilet flushing, otherwise they would have stopped before bumping into the person who just came out of the bathroom.

“I’m done.” He motioned to the door, clearly annoyed by having to endure a couple of wasted people trying to get laid.

They separated and Mai was rigid upon figuring out that said person was actually Zuko.

They stared at each other for more time than it was allowed for people who supposedly never met. She could see a blush creeping on his neck and she figured she might be turning red as well so she made her way into the bathroom, head held high because she wasn’t going to look embarrassed about the situation despite actually being embarrassed for the first time in forever about something. This was a terrible first impression to give to the person you want to fuck for information.

“Thanks man!” Mai heard him pat Zuko’s shoulder, she wasn’t going to look again.

He closed the door behind her and pounced on her. When he heard Zuko’s steps far away he asked, “Do you guys know each other?”

“Why? Are you jealous?” Mai replied while jumping on the sink, going back to her sassier flirty side.

“Not really.” He shrugged honestly, Mai didn’t mind that he didn’t care, it was obvious he didn’t. “But I've never seen you nervous before.”

Was it that obvious? “I’ve never seen him before, okay?”

“Could it be that Mai has crushy crush?” He teased her while he took his jacket off.

“I was just startled by the scar, that’s all.” Another lie. She grabbed him by the tie and pulled him closer. “Now shut up and make it worth my while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't read the atla comics, Kei Lo is one of Mai's love interest. To me he looks like a twink, so i headcanon him as a twink. He's not straight, like he can't be...
> 
> Anyways, please leave a comment, it really is the only way for me to keep writing otherwise i get bored if i think no one cares about it. To the people who commented on the last chapter i really really appreciate it <3\. 
> 
> Also if there is any grammatical error, i have inmunity because english is actually my third language, solo quería dejar eso clarito.


	3. It's my party and i'll leave if i want to

Everything is glamour until you wake up with a huge hangover, fuzzy memories of what happened last night, a room that spins all over and a small three second panic attack when you realize you wake up where you’re not supposed to.

Luckily, the blade marks on the ceiling were a dead giveaway that she was back in her room. 

Alone. 

She let out a sigh of relief. Thank god.

She recalled quickly what went on last night and cringed when she remembered that moment in the bathroom. Whatever. She wasn’t going to dwell on it, it’s not like she can change things. 

After that quickie in the bathroom  Ruon Jian decided to call it night, and having to wake up and immediately interact with her friends while dehydrated was not a situation she looked forward for anybody involved. So, she told him— or more like, made him give her a lift to her house. 

She checked the hour, only noon. Definitely impressive when it came to her. 

Her screen was filled with Ty Lee’s Messages, some worried, some invasive, most overtly detailing her entire evening. She didn’t want to answer to anybody this early, so she sent her a voice message telling her to come over after lunch, specifying that she better be cautious because she definitely wasn’t in the mood for her to be too cheery.

Meanwhile, she got a box out of her drawer. Her not-so-secret stash. She charged her pipe and opened a window, it’s the least she could do. At first when her mother found out she smoked weed she was furious. Like, raging furious. But over the years, Mai had gotten used to deflect her anger with snarky comebacks about how hypocritical she is about drug use so she stopped bothering her. 

After all, even if Mai was judgmental towards the lavish life she grew up in, that didn’t mean she wasn’t spoiled. In other words, she was going to do whatever the hell she wanted to, whenever she wanted to, and whatever consequences appeared they would be just mere inconveniences to her. 

Don’t judge her for not having the energy to make it at least to the backyard. Once she reaches the amount of THC necessary to kill her  hangover, she will look brand new. She swears.

* * *

The pool glimmered under the sunlight. Ty Lee sang along to the ditzy song she picked from her summer playlist. Mai’s left foot moved to the beat automatically. The song was terrible but it was impossible to not move to the beat. She always thought there had to be some soul-selling behind these pop tunes and she respected it somehow. 

“So, did you have a threesome yesterday or not?” Now that Mai thought about it, she really could sell a whole book on ice-breakers.

Ty Lee choked on her sugar free lemonade. “Warn me next time!” Ty lee quipped after catching her breath. “For your information, I did not! I slept all by myself because someone,” She crossed her arms and stared at her, “Didn’t bother to warn that she wasn’t sleeping in.”

Mai grunted. “And here I thought you would do something risky for once. And you know, the-” she put a finger out of her right nostril and inhaled on the left one, “That shit doesn’t count.”

Was she being though on her? Yes. Did she really care about that? No. Why? Because no one paid enough attention on Ty Lee’s wellbeing other than her hairdresser that wanted some “hot goss” and Mai, who wasn’t a licensed therapist and whose dose of reality checks where the best advice and genuine warmth she could offer to her best friend.

Ty Lee frowned at her comment.  Mai was definitely not expecting that reaction. “Why do you have to be like that all the time?”

A bitch, she meant. She agreed with her. However, they had established pretty much 2 decades ago that that’s how she was and there hasn’t been an issue since then. Of course, she’s angry, she’d suddenly touched a soft spot she wasn’t going to acknowledge. “Why are you suddenly taking this so personally?” Mai didn’t move in the slightest when grabbing the bottle of water she’d been refilling all day to help her splitting headache.

Ty lee didn’t reply.  Mai didn’t look at her, just heard her breathing. This was the closest thing to a fight they’ve had since high school, the air was tense and they knew it. 

This is the part where one of them is supposed to apologize for their behavior and promise to dial it down next time. But  Mai wasn’t going to be that person, because quite frankly if you can’t handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen.

Where did she hear that before?  Nevermind .

She could tell Ty Lee was holding back her tongue by the way she kept quiet, she always tried to diffuse the tension in the worse ways possible. Mai wished she would stand up for herself for once, especially now that she’s pretty much offering her room to practice. 

They laid quietly with the uncomfortable sound of pool jets and tennis balls bouncing from afar. It’s stupid that her mom kept trying to make tennis and Tom-Tom a thing. Poor kid, she thought being an only child was terrible but being the only male son was worse, especially now that all expectations were on him ever since their parents deemed her a failure. 

The next half hour consisted on avoiding each other by checking Instagram on their respective phones until one of them “forgot” they weren’t supposed to be on speaking terms. Which in this case was  Mai , who wasn’t mad in the first place and thought this was childish but that didn’t mean she wasn’t sacrificing her pride by taking the first step.

She brought up something about how one of Azula’s boyfriend, from back when she thought she was straight, was fired from his job as a CEO of a transnational company after he was found cheating on his wife with a prostitute... who happened to be transgender. Ty Lee was furious, “This is the same guy that had been caught evading taxes and this is why they fire him?”

“Don’t forget about that time he was 38 years old and married with a 15 years old mistress.”

“I think I'm going to be sick,” Ty Lee held a hand in her mouth.  Mai nodded in agreement.

Mai flipped on her stomach, her back towards the sun. She wouldn’t call herself vain just for tanning. She has said before it doesn’t really do anything for her. She liked the sensation, something about the heat and sweat mixed in with the knowledge that too much sun without much UV will eventually give you a life-threatening cancer makes her feel like she’s facing death without actually dying. 

Sometimes she’s really sane, even would dare to call herself the sanest person she knows, but it didn’t erase that she was bought up by really fucked up people, so she has her moments. 

However, this was mostly about getting comfortable to bring up what happened. She likes this position because she’s  face down on her towel, it means she doesn’t have to show her face. She hates talking about herself, she doesn’t think she’s that interesting, but the reason she even let Ty Lee inside her house, despite really wanting to be in a catatonic state, in front of the tv is because she needed to talk to somebody.

“I did something stupid.” 

Ty Lee’s eyes widened, shocked by her revelation. Her torso moved forward, automatically pulled in since this wasn’t a thing that happened often. “What did you do? It can’t be that bad,” She says, already trying to cheer her up.

“Only time will tell,”  Mai remained cryptic, she was still making up her mind whether to tell her or not.

Ty Lee raised an eyebrow and stared at her sudden quietness. “Aren’t you going to tell me what you did?”

“Ugh, fine.”  Mai lifted her head from her arms, her bangs messed all over her face and her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose, giving her a funny look. “Yesterday  Azula asked me a favor. To you it might not be a big deal since you always do what she says...”

Ty Lee shot her a look, reminding her to drop the criticism. Progress.

“She technically asked me to seduce Zuko,” Mai informed her with a tone of disgust. Every time she associated favors with seducing she thought of Cruel Intentions and that’s not a thing she really wants to think about. Ever. “Look, her issue is that she doesn’t have a single clue as to why Zuko is here and she wants to know why.” She sighed, “I don’t even know why I said yes.”

Ty Lee looked lost in thought for a second. Is it her idea or was Ty Lee generally acting strange lately?

“What it is it?”  Mai asked almost concerned.

“Why didn’t she ask me to do it? Am I losing my charm?” Ty lee laid a hand on her chest, she looked like she was about to cry. 

Mai quickly moved to sit in front of her. She put a hand on her arm and explained, “No way, she explicitly said that she’s just asking me because I may be more his type.” She tried to smile in support, instead looking like something out of  an horror movie, “Don’t worry, if it doesn’t work out, she was going to ask you to have a go too.” 

Although she knew Ty Lee wouldn’t want that. She was beginning to see that what Ty Lee had told her over the phone these past months about being great about her break-up and regaining her confidence had been some sort of performance, and it’s making her feel sort of guilty for not realizing it before.

“Gosh, I'm so sorry, this isn’t even about me!” Ty Lee exhaled and shook her hands to get back in the present. “That makes perfect sense.”

“It’s okay.”  Mai pulled back and relaxed her shoulders.

“Well, why do you think it’s stupid?” Ty Lee took a sip of her beverage, this time she asked for a tequila sunrise. “For someone who hates drama you can be quite dramatic from time to time.”

“I think it’s called attributing a negative view towards everything, or at least that’s what my former therapist told me.” 

“You’re diverting the conversation.”

“Fine,” Mai rolled her eyes. “Don’t judge me but I wanted to bang Zuko with or without Azula’s permission, so in the moment it made a lot of sense. But the last time she asked me for a favor... you know,” She laid on the deck chair again acting non-chalantly.

“Oh  Mai ,” Ty Lee whispered sweetly. 

She glanced at her, letting her know with a single look that she didn’t need her pity. “Afterwards I bumped into  Zuko while I was entering the bathroom to have sex with someone else.”

Ty Lee listened carefully then squinted at her revelation. “Oh! Well... It is an inconvenience but I don’t think he’s closed-minded like that, nowadays most men accept that women—”

“I don’t care what he thinks,” She means it. “It’s just that later I had to pretend I had an orgasm because all I could focus on was on the hundreds and  _ hundreds  _ of hours of etiquette lesson that had been drilled into my brain for this specific meeting.”  Mai let her hands sit on her stomach as she bended her knees to position herself in a more comfortable position. “Look, my point is that I don’t know how to approach this whole thing. What if we meet again? Should I pretend that I don’t know him? I don’t know.”

“It’s really weird to see you so stressed out,” Ty Lee remarked as she finished her drink.

“I’m not stressed out.”

“I think you are,” She replied in a non-judgmental way. You can tell the booze is starting to hit her because her cheeks are painted red instead of the peach blush she arrived with. “It’s okay  Mai . If I were you, I wouldn’t really think about it. All the guys you meet end up falling head over heels for you.”

Mai frowned. “They don’t love me, they think I'm a bitch.”

“And that’s exactly why they love you! Just be yourself!” Ty Lee cheered. What Ty Lee points out doesn’t make any sense to her, yet she doesn’t doubt it is true because if there is anyone that know how to handle men it is her friend. “I wouldn’t worry about it, when the time comes, you’ll know exactly what to do.”

“You’re right, I guess.”  Mai shrugged. “Also, we will not speak about this anymore unless I bring it up.”

* * *

The following week fulfilled more of her usual expectations. It mostly consisted in running around the mall spending her father’s credit card on burgundy comforters and black furniture.

Every year it was the same old tale. Her mother gave away to charity everything she bought in the summer and redecorated it in a way that whenever a guest would come visit, she could show them the room of sweet little Mai. 

Too bad “sweet little Mai”  was just a figment of her imagination and instead gave birth to “snarky little Mai”, who was so hell-bent on living her own way that she put herself through insufferable hours of shopping just to prove a point.

It wasn’t sustainable at all, but don’t blame her, it wasn’t her fault.

Surprisingly, when the furniture came home her mother didn’t make a fuss about it at all. Did she travel into another dimension and failed to realize it? The only way she would tolerate this brand-new behavior is if one-night Michi showed up with a knife and slashed the entire family to death so badly they’d become a topic of discussion in YouTube channels dedicated to true crime. That’s right, that’s the only way.

Anyway, other than that you could often spot her in stylish new restaurants and bars. It wasn’t all for the sake of flaunting. It was partly because Azula wanted to hang out and Mai refused to let there be a slight chance of bumping into Zuko again while sober, but mostly because of the great food. 

Most people would ask her why would she be friends with someone as terrible as  Azula , as if she was the poster child of good morals. 

If she could deliberately choose who she was friends with, she probably wouldn’t have chosen any of the one she already has. Maybe her bond was stronger with Ty Lee or Kei Lo, but that was mostly because she felt she had a small responsibility to pull them back to earth. However, with Azula it was more complicated. Sometimes she loathed her and other times she felt like Azula was the only one who could ever understand her. Not because she listened to her or anything of the sort, but because she knew what it was like to be misunderstood. 

Just don’t tell her she said that or it will get to her head.

“Don’t forget about the gala next Saturday,”  Azula stated while she carefully grabbed a piece of sushi with her chopsticks. 

Mai sighed, “I wish I could erase it from my memory, but sadly everyone has been talking about it.” She glared and remarked, “Everyday.  _ Non-stop _ .”

Every year  Ozai’s company threw a charity gala to raise funds for whatever social cause was relevant at the time. The whole ordeal was deeply ironic and basically a spit in the eye to whoever they were helping. Despite raising tons of funds, it would never catch up with the amount of cash attendees wore... on underwear. In the end, all of this was just a big PR circus and she figured to be one of those ladies that got strapped in a rotating table while her parents threw knives at her, skipping just inches short from her skin because it made for a restless show of applause. 

Of course, she made that metaphor because of the knives. In an ideal world the places would be switched. A sadistic part of her would have made a joke about not missing, but come on, she wasn’t a psychopath.

Mai didn’t mind helping people in living conditions below than hers—which was like 99,9% of the rest of the population of republic city if you got technical, but she was specifically referring to the most unprivileged. She was going to be honest, she used to live in a bubble. She still does most of the time, but she had changed a lot since college, most specifically after meeting  Kei Lo. He showed her that genuine caring about others wasn’t a myth, it was something that regular people did. She’s not quite there and she’s not sure she ever will be, but at least she’s aware that there may be a possibility that that could be her one day.

But until that day came, she was still in her family’s grip. Which meant she had to wear a  brand-new overpriced dress designed by her mother instead of one of the many black dresses she already owned.

“Don’t bring a date, I think my father has finally convinced my brother to show his face in public.” 

Two things. 

One, she wasn’t planning on bringing somebody. At this time of the year most men she knew were being extra chivalrous, careful and stupid enough to think that she would ever give them a chance of connecting them with this country’s most important people. The only date he ever brought was some guy, couple years back, who found out she had a thing for knives and gave her an expensive set of kitchen knives. That was moronic but she thought it was a nice gesture nonetheless. She remembers this because it was about the last time she had been nice to a straight male.

And two, she hoped  Azula would have forgotten all about it. But that’s the thing about hope, she didn’t have too many because when she did it was mostly to deflect what was bound to happen in reality. So of course she knew that sooner or later she was going to bring up the issue, unlike her past date, being dumb carried more consequences than benefits for her.

“I know I said I would help you but I don’t think it’s a good plan,” Mai was being completely honest with her. Despite saying it in her typical one note voice, it wasn’t an easy task to turn down Azula’s request. Mai had a defiant attitude towards everything that surrounded her, except her, who was simply used to not being told No. It’s not like she can’t say no to her, she literally just did, rather it was that she had to think about how, when, and in what situations she could say it.

After speaking to Ty Lee, her mind had short conversations with itself about what was the best thing she could do. She knew she said she was interested in him—or well, mostly what he could do for her, if you knew what she meant—but she was beginning to think that it would add some unnecessary drama she didn’t want to respond to. The healthiest thing she could do in this moment is give up on it and move on to the next person with a six-pack, that was easy.

“You could have said no in the first place.”  Azula’s smirk faced downwards now, her brows slightly furrowed together. “Anyways,” she waved her hand dismissively and got her manipulative mask back on, “I guess, I'll ask Ty Lee.”

Crap. That’s a big detail she forgot to factor into the equation. Knowing Ty Lee, she probably didn’t want to do it out of respect for  Mai and out of respect for her taste in men. But what she wanted versus what  Azula wanted were two very different things, and if  Mai already found it hard to tell  Azula no, Ty Lee didn’t even consider that a possibility. 

Mai took her time chewing so she could think of an excuse to save her friend. When she swallowed the remains, she rolled her eyes at her friend. “You know she doesn’t want to do that. I’ll do it, I'll just have to cancel my date,” she said it so casually she hoped Azula wouldn’t realize it was a lie.

After lunch her mother called her desperately to come over to her bridal workshop, located in the fanciest shopping district of Republic city. It wasn’t far from where she was so Azula dropped her off before making her way to terrorize the people who worked for her. 

Normally she would have refused to see her mother there, after all it had been years since she has entered her workplace. But she said yes just because she had kept calling 10 times after deliberately declining her calls. Also, it really sounded urgent.

It took her about 15 minutes to get to her mother’s office. Everyone kept halting as they passed her down the hall to greet her. Some familiar faces were shocked to see her there, while the unfamiliar ones introduced themselves, stunned to think this day would have come. The younger looking ones, most likely interns, avoided to make eye contact and nervously pushed themselves aside so she could walk by. 

“Mai you won’t believe what just arrived,” Her mother beamed when she saw her enter the office. “I’m so glad you’re here, I couldn’t wait to show you.”

Oh no. All that excitement, it had to mean just one thing: The dress. 

Her mother a big rectangular box out of a big white closet and carefully put them aside. Her mother specialized in making perfect white bridal dresses,  coincidentally Mai never wanted to get married. 

Every year, she made an extra effort to go out of her typical design category and  confectioned dresses for both of them to wear at the gala, it was just another way of controlling her life while also gaining recognition for her craft. She wasn’t going to deny, her mother was talented, there’s a reason why everyone had to sit yeas on a waitlist to get one of her designs. Yet that didn’t mean Mai was going to like it. Last year she had to sit in some itchy orange fabric, it was a terrible experience. 

Mai dropped her bag on the nearest table and crossed her arms. “And you couldn’t wait to torture me back home... because?”

Her mother didn’t entertain her and decided to open the box without a word. Mai stood there, waiting for  disappointment to hit.

Wait, was this a joke?

Michi held the dress carefully by it ends. It was a simple black asymmetrical dress, length touching the floor, straight and tight. 

Mai raised an eyebrow in surprise. 

“What do you think?” She asked excitedly, her smile bright and bringing focus to her glasses. They made her look more her age yet her energy made her look younger than any  Botox ever has.

“It’s ok,” Mai shrugged. Actually, she liked it... a lot. “In fact, I don’t hate it.”

Her mother clutched the dress closer to her body, satisfied with her answer. 

Her mother urged her to try it on right there. It was weird to have her so close physically. She was used to making her mother’s interns check her fittings because she didn’t want her near her. She could tell she was refraining to make comments about her body, she even asked her if she was eating healthy in college, suggesting she had to gain weight.

It was surprising coming from her since she encouraged her to starve herself all  through high school. 

Once she  finished, she laid her hands on her shoulder from behind and looked at her trough the mirror. “Oh Mai, you look so beautiful.”

She gulped, trying hard to not frown at her.

It may be that her mother was trying to change but flashing memories like those kept her from smiling with her in that moment.

Afterwards, she had a long walk to the nearest  convenience store and bought her first pack of  cigarettes in a whole year. 

She laid in the  brick wall outside. Filling her lungs with nicotine and savoring the feeling of familiarity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit I suck at writing multi-chapter stories, but i'm trying to keep it up and your comments have really been helping, for real! I write mostly to improve my english and out of boredom, so reading them has kept me motivated to keep going and i really appreciate them (You probably don't know how many times i've read them... a lot!!). 
> 
> I really struggled with this chapter because i know what i want to do with this story but i had a hard time establishing it without diving in too fast, so this chapter i really wanted to establish Mai's POV and how her psyche works and how she interacts in her closest relationships atm, i think that behind all the the things she doesn't say there are multiple thoughts and i have to admit, despite being a fan of the show for years i realized she really has that Daria vibe going on (another show i love btw) and it's only fair to take advantage of her ability to be spot-on with her critiques lol.
> 
> Next chapter should start to get things going. I swear there is more to this story than what's in the main frame, hopefully i will finish it lol.


	4. We are the world

The minute she arrived was also the minute she wanted to leave.

But since she couldn’t do  that she walked to the nearest tray with alcohol.

She chugged her champagne in a few seconds and left the empty flute back in the tray. The waiter stood there, motionless and unable to make eye contact. Deep down she knew he was amused. 

“Don’t tell anybody you saw that,” She winked and grabbed another one. He still didn’t budge but now his cheeks were red. Men were so easy to please, it was boring.

It was easy to get lost in such a big crowd. She arrived here with Ty Lee and her sisters and they already  disappeared from her view. Oh well, that's too bad, that means she has no choice left than to find the food trays.

She sighed.

Or maybe not.

Her father waved gently from afar, commanding her to approach him. There goes the food. Every year he would go on an entire speech about how when he was a kid his mother died of starvation in a textile fabric just so he could get enough to eat, and if it wasn’t for that he wouldn’t be alive to build his multimillion-dollar empire. Then, implying she would be to one to ruin it by eating caviar instead of holding back for a few hours, showing ungratefulness and disrespect for the family legacy. 

You know, the usual stuff.  However, she didn’t want her father get more stressed out since he already had heart  troubles, she decided to abstain from eating while her parents were in sight.

“Where’s mom?” She asked, because the  speeches involved the two of them.

“She hasn’t arrived yet,” he said while scanning to crowd for his next victim to fall in his web of networking.

Mai raised an eyebrow. That’s weird, when it came to showing  off, they were letting everybody know they have a  codependent relationship. “ Weren't you guys supposed to arrive together?” 

“And you were supposed to arrive with us too,”  Ukano replied back, shooting her a look that implied she should stop asking too many questions. “She’s running late with Tom-Tom.”

Half an hour later, her mother arrived wearing a stunning silver dress instead of her usual dull colors. Her father gave her permission to search for food with his brother. That’s when she knew that there was something else going on. Did she want to know about it? Not really. Did she want to enjoy possibly the only time she could eat tiny bits of meat without being associated as a family disgrace? Hell yes.

She ordered Tom-Tom to go his way but staying close to her. She passed tray after tray, until arriving back to the first guy who served her champagne. He was a little taller than her, blue eyes that contrasted with his skin tone, and his hair was combed to each side hiding his undercut. “It’s you again, wonder why I keep coming back to you,” Mai said in a tone of amusement. Poor boy, she didn’t really want to lead him on but sometimes she couldn’t refrain herself from flirting with waiters at these events. “What’s your name?”

He didn’t reply and Mai could tell she was making him nervous, she smiled to herself. “ So, you’re not allowed to talk or...?”

He looked at her for a second then back at the crowd. He said in a hushed yet lively tone, “It’s not that I don’t want to talk, I just don’t want to get fired.”

“Wow, she surely went overboard with the restrictions this year,” Mai tilted her head. She knew Azula was the one in charge every year to get the event going and since she refused to completely trust her assistant, she personally made sure everything was running smoothly. “Good luck with Azula, she’s a pain in the ass.”

“Please, don’t tell her I said this but,” He nodded markedly, his face conveying trauma. He looked almost like a  caricature the way he was so expressive without saying or moving too much.  “Also, I'm Sokka... and I have a girlfriend.”

“Mai... and I could tell.”

She had a feeling he knew who she was and that he also wanted to ask how she knew he had a girlfriend, yet, for his own sake of keeping his job he decided to leave the interaction at that. It was very simple to put two and two together, most waiters she flirted with didn’t mind losing their poor paying jobs to screw a floozy high class girl who happened to not give a shit about anything.

* * *

Time passed.

“You should have gone to Harvard instead,” said the 70 years old stranger who was a so-called friend of her father.

Slowly.

“Nonsense, I'm more worried about how such an elegant young lady hasn’t found a boyfriend yet,” his second wife, 20 years younger but acted 50 years younger, switched the conversation. “I’ve always said to Ken that you two would make a gorgeous couple.”

_ Very slowly. _

Mai and the couple’s son exchanged a knowing look, their brief fling in ember island serving as a reminder of why that sentence was incorrect. Still, that didn’t stop him from suggesting, “We just brought a new rest home in Sicily, if you’re down we could get our  families together on the jet and go there for the weekend.”

Mai thought about it. There were some pros: he was handsome, filthy rich with an inheritance that could definitely end world hunger, and a huge penis. The cons were louder though, he didn’t know how to use it, and her family would adore him. 

“We’ll see. I don’t really plan on staying the whole summer here,” she lied.

“Oh, really? What are your plans dear?” The wife asked gleefully.

“I’m going to Africa to help doctors  without borders,” lie. “And then I’m going to Harvard to see if I should transfer schools,” another lie. 

The couple looked impressed while the son rolled his eyes, well aware of her intentions. The wife put a hand on her shoulder and smiled, “Young lady, you are the definition of a global citizen. And to think every year you do all of this without so much telling the press.” She wagered her finger, signaling the whole room, “A couple of people here should take  _ you _ as an example.”

Ironically, Mai could learn a thing or two from her alter-ego. Every time she put her perfect daughter mask on, her parents got suspicious of how much remarks they received on how well they’ve raised their daughter. She doesn’t feel remorse because these people force her to lie. Their standards were unattainable, they would never know the truth because nobody has the time to fact-check what she said because she’s not that important— even if his father prayed constantly during her early years that some of Azula might rub off on her. Sadly, she’s not in an international college and it’s all because she didn’t accept Ty Lee’s aunt offer to fake her admission into NYU. Now she’s in jail.

Once she was by  herself, she checked her watch, only 20 minutes for supper. She beat herself internally. Another minute of small talk about  yatches , vacation houses and private jets and she would self-combust,  _ hopefully _ .

Suddenly she felt a tiny hand grab hers and Mai instinctively pulled away. She realized it was a distraught looking Tom-Tom. She had a hard time believing his brother was now 11 because he certainly acted like a toddler still, but she doesn’t mean that as a negative thing. Feeling kind of bad, she lowered down to meet his height, “What’s wrong?”

“I did something stupid,” he whispered.

She raised an eyebrow, “Stupid as in?”

“I ate food off the trays again, this time without father’s permission.”

She was confused, “That’s it? I do it all the time, he won’t find out unless he sees you.”

“No!” He exclaimed in pain while clutching his stomach. “I accidently ate spicy food and now I want to take a dump!”

The lady beside them glanced with disgust. Mai motioned him to lower his voice and asked, “Right now? Are you serious?” 

“YES!” He insisted, looking at her as if she was an idiot.

Mai sighed for the first time tonight despite being strictly forbidden to. She grabbed his hand like a mother who was fed up with his child and made him follow her to the restricted wing of the event room. It was empty and Azula advised her to go there if she needed some alone time. She halted in front of a small door that had a barely visible WC sign.

“Here, make it fast,” She practically shoved him to hurry up or they would be late. 

Tom-tom shut the door and Mai leaned against the wall. She could see the party from afar without being seen. She scanned the room, just a bunch of people patting each other in the back, thinking they’ve have contributed something of value to the education of poor Malaysian women. They were so  delusional; she couldn’t  bear to watch any further. 

A few entrances further from the party, two men were talking outside a door that signaled “Only staff allowed”. The way they interacted made her believe this wasn’t supposed to be a public reunion. Mai narrowed her eyes, they glinted under the small beam of light that reflected from outside the big window. 

Her eyebrows were raised slightly in surprise. Despite the huge amount of distance, she realized that it was the waiter she met earlier, “Sokka”, if that was indeed his real name, with no one, no other, than Zuko. She had a feeling she wasn't supposed to be seeing this. 

Could it be they were lovers? Or-

_ Fuck. _ Her phone started ringing, loudly. She oversaw the crowd, they were dispersing and making their way inside. She put her hand inside her purse and quickly turned it off, knowing perfectly it was her mother calling to berate them both on their tardiness. 

“Who is there?” She heard one of the boys yell out, searching for confrontation. Despite being protected by the darkness, she felt exposed.

Her brother flushed the toilet and she positioned herself in front of the door. He tried to open it but she pushed inwards, keeping him trapped. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” He yelled at her sister. 

She just knocked the door four times, knowing if she talked, they would be toast. Mai hoped Tom-Tom remembered the secret code they invented back when she was still in school, she was used to keeping her door closed to be unbothered, however, she told Tom-Tom to knock on her door four times in case there was any emergency. 

Luckily, he  remembered; he wasn’t fighting to get out anymore.

“Come on, you’re too paranoid now.” She saw Sokka pat him on the back. “Let’s just go back.”

Looking back at the darkness, she made eye contact with Zuko through the void, suddenly feeling how fast her heart beat against her chest. He nodded and hesitantly made his way back to the crowd while Sokka pushed through the door he was allowed in.

Mai let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. She got out unscathed, she was sure.

“Can I come out now?” Tom-Tom asked with a tone of annoyance. 

Mai opened the door and he deadpanned.

She groaned and grabbed her nose. “God, that’s disgusting!”

He smiled with satisfaction.

* * *

Mai breathed in, trying to keep inside a yawn that had been threatening for hours to come out. She was sure that if she kept clapping her fingers would fall off.

“Mai, you don’t need to clap so loudly,” her mother whispered, berating her without the other guests at the table realizing.

She shot her a snide look and lowered the intensity.

“Mommy, I'm really tired,” Tom-Tom yawned; he had a long way to go.

Her mom caressed his cheek sweetly, “Less than an hour left and we’ll be home.”

Mai frowned. She had never been treated that way before, and she was certain that Tom-Tom hadn’t either. Could it be that her mother was sober once in for all? That can’t be it, people don’t overcome an addiction to painkillers overnight. But then again, she did seem more coherent— and she doesn’t mean the affection; she means the way she didn’t trip on her words anymore and didn’t  stare off in space at inadequate moments.

(Like that  time they got in a car crash when she picked her up from school. Her mother didn’t react like a minute later and for that Mai had to shoo off for the  entirety of two months her stupid classmates that were obsessed with signing her cast.)

Her mom elbowed her under the table and she was brought by to the present with the amount of noise cheering people made as Azula stepped into the podium. Mai got back in synch with her clapping, her eyes fixated on the small train of Azula’s burgundy dress. The way she dressed was simple yet they always had certain details that denoted her superiority, as if she were saying “I don’t really need much to let you know that I'm better than you.”

Azula stood on stage with poise and firmness. She let the assistant adjust the microphone instead, letting the suspense become part of the show. She approached it slowly before beginning, “Tonight we gather in union...” 

_ For a cause greater than us. A cause that done right could change the life of several children and even... _ blah blah blah, Mai thinks. She had the speech memorized already. Azula made them gather two days ago at Koko’s lounge for a few martinis and a few hours wasted just so they could listen to her testament. Azula never worried about pointless stuff like public speaking but when it came charity speeches her brain went through a chemical imbalance. This instance was designed to make her nervous, she was being put on the spot about how connected she was to reality and deep down Azula knew that if she had to even bother to write a speech then the answer to that dilemma would be ‘total lack of connection’.

And a visible ‘total lack of connection’ wasn’t part of her  10-year plan to become the youngest governor in Republic City.

The speech was so long that Mai had decided to focus on the crowd. There were a few familiar faces that she would be later seeing at the after-party—this after party was only for the young and reckless, but the adults definitely didn’t mind, they had their own party and the legend said that they were even darker and filled with sex, destruction, and destructive sex. Oh, and also, adrenochrome.

She looked at the other end of the room. Ty Lee had her hand clasped together, staring inherently at Azula while she mouthed the entire speech alongside her, not missing a beat. Her concentration was palpable.

Her final destination was at the middle table, knowing that soon  Ozai would step into the podium. His expression showed pride for his daughter. That wasn’t shocking, he was always showering her with praise and projected his immortality onto his legacy, which was her. By his right side there was an empty seat belonging to Azula, which upon further inspection eerily symbolized his widowed status, some people claim he never remarried out of true love, but in her opinion he didn’t remarry out of his love for barely legal girls that loved to call him daddy and didn’t mind anal if it came with a Gucci bag.

By his left side was his newly returned son. Zuko had been a hit at the party, everyone was talking about him, in fact, the entire conversation surrounding her table was about how they used to play with each other when they were 6 years old, which she didn’t remember. She was beginning to wonder why because her mother did like the back of her hand, even going as far as saying they had a crush on each other, that, again, she didn’t recall. 

Earlier, she didn’t get the chance to observe him very well but under this new light she was definitely liking what she was seeing; he looked very handsome in a suit and he seemed like the type to not realize it, which made it infinite times better. To a stranger he fitted right in by the way he showed himself, but behind that barrier of inexpression Mai knew he was uncomfortable by being part of the big show. She could tell; do you really need to ask her why? 

“...So please give it up for the owner of Flame corps and, most especially, my father: Ozai!” Azula demanded with a calculated smile. 

Ozai rose from his seat as the lights set on him. He put a hand on Zuko’s shoulder as he waved to the roaring crowd. Mai clapped, channeling all her efforts into knowing this would be over soon. The businessmen and the teen girls were relentless as he passed by them, failing hard to conceal their boners, although, why would they? To them,  Ozai was a sexy middle-aged businessman that managed to have a six pack while still running the most important empire in his country.

He got a handwritten speech from inside his jacket. The crowd waited in anticipation as he unfolded the paper. As he opened his mouth to speak, suddenly in an uncharacteristic (yet very characteristic) move he tore up the paper and crumpled it in his fist. “You know what, let’s quit the bullshit,” he said and a few housewives gasped in different points of the room. “We don’t need a speech to realize what we achieved today by helping these women,” he extended his arm, putting emphasis on the big screen showing the poverty behind him.

At first, Mai thought the speech was a prop and this was all part of the show, but then she saw Azula blink in Morse code at Ty Lee, then at her. 

_ ‘What the actual fuck’. _

Her friend, who had intense obsessive traits, was having a fully controlled  breakdown. Mai stood straighter, now very interested in what was about to go down. 

“I’ve been considering this choice for a year now but seeing what we have achieved today has inspired me to make a decision in this very spot. I, Ozai, CEO of Flame corps, have decided to run for governor of Republic city, all with the objective of helping the city become the best version conceivable of itself!”

The crowd of his dearest fans erupted in cheers upon his announcement, their collective wet dream finally came true. Other people booed. The most intelligent ones stood up from their chairs and left the place indignantly. The cameras flashed and the journalists present became busy sharing on twitter what was going down.

Meanwhile, Azula clapped with a smug smile on her face. Mai’s phone was blowing up with group messages and tweets raging about what was going on, in the midst, she caught a text from Ty Lee “There’s no way Azula knew about that”. Of course not, in Azula’s 10-year plan  Ozai didn’t have a single role to play.

At the main table, Zuko was shocked with a side of something she couldn’t pinpoint. It was moments like these with the amount of emotion he expressed that she realized he hadn’t been around in a long time. She hasn’t really thought about it because doing so meant entertaining Azula, but what had he been up to all these years? Boarding school was no longer an option, even if common sense had debunked it years ago.

“Is this the plan you were talking about earlier?” Mai’s mom asked her father with a frown.

“Yes,” he said with pride of being part of something so horrific as this scheme.

Her mom simply nodded, a look of deep sadness haunting her face as she settled her eyes back on stage.

* * *

Despite being extremely busy, her family had found a moment to chat with Ozai, even though, they perfectly could have done that in the morning. She guessed being seen with the man of the hour was more important.

Their families were pretty close, her father was one of the few people  Ozai “trusted”, showing his loyalty for him after working as his lawyer for decades. Her father was obsessed with money, probably because he didn’t have any growing up, despite that even if bigger offers came, he still chose to stick by his side. Mai wasn’t an idiot; she knew her father was involved in something illegal and Ozai had him tied. The magnitude of it is what she doesn’t know but she wouldn’t be surprised if one day the FDA came knocking with a warrant. 

Ozai kissed her in the cheek, pulling her close, his hand laying lower than she would like too— but not as low to make her sign an NDA. He always had acted this way with Ty lee and her, his lack of personal space only growing stronger when they turned 18. “ _ Egg-shaped penis _ ,” Ty lee muttered one afternoon in Azula’s backyard without Azula, she had difficulties with reading people but not with disclosing their sexual attributes and preferences. In fact, with just one glimpse at Kei  Lo’s Instagram she managed to figure out he was gay before he even knew it, forcing Mai to dump him with a stupid excuse.

She got away from the adult conversation and moved onto where Azula and Ty Lee were chatting. 

“Can we get drunk now?” Mai inquired with anticipation. 

“I second that!” Ty lee exclaimed. 

“Patience now, the limo is about to arrive,” Azula reassured while her eyes were glued to her phone. 

“Ugh, why can’t we just grab an uber and get out of here,” Mai started sounding like a petulant child. She had her moments.

Azula glimpsed with hatred, they were beginning to test her patience. Mai in a normal day would have kept going because she enjoyed to push her buttons, but with the situation earlier it probably wasn’t a good idea. 

Silence settled. Ty Lee glanced at her, trying to decipher if now was a good time to talk about what happened earlier. Mai decided to break the ice, Azula was annoyed with her already, she had nothing to lose. “So earlier... was that supposed to happen or...?”

Azula frowned, then smiled, hiding behind the intention that she was up to no good.

Mai squinted. 

“Oh, Zuko...” She called him like a little dog as she turned her head. “Come meet my friends.”

Zuko’s head popped out from the group of people behind her, slightly relieved. As he approached her sister, he inquired with both a hint of mockery and genuine curiosity, “You have friends?”

“Well, aren’t you a comedian,” Azula retaliated while rolling her eyes. “I don’t think you’ve met Mai and Ty Lee before.”

“But I have,” Zuko blurted out.

The girls in question exchanged looks. Mai wondered if he was talking about the other day, you know, when he found her only minutes before someone else got inside of her. Ty Lee, on the other hand, was genuinely confused, thinking the only possibility was that he was thirst following her on Instagram, which was the usual drill with most men she met.

Suddenly self-conscious, Zuko corrected himself, “No, No— I mean, I remember you guys from when were kids.”

_ Whew _ , close one. It could be surprising that he remembered that but it wasn’t so far-fetched since the only close friends Azula had, had been the same ones for the last 18 years.

Mai figured she’ll let Ty Lee dominate the conversation for now because truthfully, she wouldn't be able to handle the pressure with Azula breathing down her neck and Ty Lee now knowing her intentions. There’s too much out there, she’s used to being arms crossed hanging in the background, which made things come naturally. Most of her hook-ups either happened because guys were attracted to her aloofness, mistaking it as playing hard to get, or because in between said aloofness she’d be extremely direct when she knew what she wanted, then extremely detached the next minute, which left them confused and wanting for more.

Taking in the  circumstance since the first time she saw him, until now, the  first-time meeting, it’s clear as day that this wasn’t her usual playground. 

“Are you looking forward to the after party?” Ty Lee asked sweetly. 

Zuko scratched the back of his neck. “I was thinking about going home really.”

“Nonsense, you’re coming with us,” Azula stated.

“It will be really fun! Plus, now that you’re back this might be the chance to connect with new people,” Ty Lee encouraged him. 

Zuko flinched slightly at her openness. Oh, Ty Lee, bless her heart. She did it with the best interests but most strangers didn’t like to have their boundaries trespassed. Mai valued her courage but couldn’t help judge her for being so blunt about an issue they knew it was delicate, even if they feigned ignorance. 

This may not be her usual playground but that didn’t mean she would refrain from making comments that no one cared about. “We’ve known these people for more than a decade now. If we were to connect with them, we would have done so already,” she pried with honesty. 

Now that they’re onto it, what meant a true connection nowadays?

Azula shot daggers at her, in her mind burning her alive for self-sabotaging her mission.

Ty Lee turned to face her with a grimace, “but that hasn’t stopped you from going and having a good time.”

She loved her friend but she was really oblivious if she thought listening to a bunch  morons comment on current world  affairs they literally have no idea about was her idea of a good time. 

“Yes, but that’s me, going to these things is my way of self-inflicting pain,” she added casually. “If he’s smart enough to not want to go then maybe, I don’t know...  _ we shouldn’t force him? _ ” The both of them were having an entire conversation on their own, ignoring the sibling's presence. 

Ty Lee was about to respond but upon Mai’s meddling Zuko’s shoulders relaxed. “You know what, I'll go. You may be right,” he openly sided with Ty Lee, but a short glimpse at Mai said  _ ‘or completely wrong’ _ .

“See,” Ty Lee put a hand on her hips in amusement, not really rubbing in, mostly showing her that normal people liked to try new things. 

“Great because the limo is outside,” Azula interfered with good news, her face stuck again on the phone.

A bunch of Azula’s acquaintances tagged along for the most expensive 10-minute ride on earth. The mansion they were going was at the shore of the artificial lake that oversaw the resort. On the entire ride Mai focused on filling in Kei Lo some of the details via text of how her night had gone so far, he replied with several incoherent phrases and a selfie with his Grindr hookup, both completely wasted, showing her thumbs up with the caption ‘ _ Go for it, tigress _ ’. Mai resisted the urge from noising out loud ‘yuck’.

When they arrived, the party was already in full swing. The music was thundering all over the property, a bunch of groups were near the entrance charging with a joint before going hard, some people that weren’t at the event were also invited, and already strangers were making out all over the place. That’s usually how these parties started when you were fashionably late.

The strangers inside the limousine hopped out without hesitation. “Thanks!” Ty Lee shouted at the driver from the back. The driver was ready to step out but Zuko told him he would help the girls out of the car.

“Selfless  _ and _ chivalrous,” Azula remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

Ty Lee accepted gladly and Mai hesitated before grabbing his hand. His hold was strong and he was incredibly warm, it sent a small shiver down her spine when her body took into account the contrast in temperatures. Mai was used to being cold.

Each girl smoothed their dress and Zuko waited patiently for Azula to come out. Ty Lee asked Mai how she looked, to which she replied with a truthful compliment that made her beam.

With Azula not showing any sign, Zuko butted his head back in. “What’s taking you so long?” 

Azula shushed him as she was talking on the phone. Zuko waited for her to finish, growing irritated each second that passed.

When Azula hung up she simply rolled the partition and told the driver, “I’m going to need to make a stop somewhere else, I'll pay for your  inconvenience .”

“What?!” Zuko exclaimed, “Wait, wait, wait... if you’re leaving then drop me home! I’m not staying here! I don’t know anybody!”

“Sorry but I can only make one stop, I have another client to respond to,” the driver informed, extremely apologetic out of fear.

“You have to be kidding me!” Zuko shouted in frustration.

“Sorry brother, but after father’s little stunt today he needs me for damage control,” Azula was being completely honest. Even  _ she _ wanted a night off every one in a while.

“Then take me with you!”

Azula simply looked at him, denoting that he should be more realistic.

Zuko groaned in resignation. 

The limousine drove off, leaving Zuko behind and Ty Lee and Mai confused. “What happened?” Ty Lee asked, concerned about her friend's sudden disappearance. 

“Azula had to help father,” he said, clearly unsatisfied with this scenario. “And now I'm stuck here.”

Ty Lee put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance. 

That was shitty but that was Azula for you. 

Mai couldn’t offer sympathy so instead she searched in the crowd for a waiter with the booziest drinks and flagged him down. She grabbed two drinks off the tray and offered them  to Zuko. “Here. Two of these and this won’t be a problem anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an official interaction. Writing this went relatively well until the part where Mai and Zuko officially met, not having a clear reference in the series mixed in with mess I put in the earlier chapters made it difficult to put it together. There wasn't much awkwardness really since I would barely call this an interaction but we'll see what happens next chapter. 
> 
> Again, really thanful for your comments,I read them all! If i don't reply it's mostly because I read them when i'm not logged in because i'm too lazy to do so lol. But thank you a lot <3


	5. Go to sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw vomit, nothing too graphic

Zuko hadn’t had time to finish his first drink before the vultures swept in. Even if Ozai had been the talk of the city tonight, the next exciting big thing was coerced into attending this party. Whatever proper conversation Mai had hoped would happen between the two was squashed by the brat pack and their very invasive questions. 

Before tonight, Ty Lee had described Zuko as having an intimidating presence. Mai thought that was a huge misconception based solely on his scar because his initial behavior was one of a fish out of water awkwardly flopping on the ground. 

That quickly changed upon the presence these dirtbags. He suddenly stood straighter and his grip on his weirdly shaped glass was firmer. It’s like a bolt of confidence shot through him. Mai couldn’t pinpoint exactly if he was being naturally arrogant or just on a defensive standpoint. One thing was for sure, behind his diplomacy and those carefully rehearsed word, he was just as annoyed as her to be listening to these self-proclaimed minds of the future. 

(And that’s exactly why the future was only going to last a couple of decades before humankind went extinct). 

Chan, as usual, went right for it and introduced himself as Azula’s first boyfriend; which would be impressive if she ever were into men, or if she didn’t constantly cheat on him with her father’s married friends during that year and a half. He was still as cocky as he had been in high school, still as ripped, and still bore that scar she left on his ego when she came out of the closet. 

He was surrounded by a bunch of people she has met countless of times before but couldn’t bother to learn their names. Some girls weren’t interested in the conversation, they were glad to be in the circle for that moment, other girls had been blatantly flirting with and getting ignored by Zuko, and a few ones, obsessed with etiquette, forgot all about it as they blatantly stared at his scar.

Luckily for Mai,  Ruon Jian was nowhere in sight, she hoped he had passed out on a bush already because the texts he sent urging to take her out on a date had been consistent throughout the last two weeks and in real life you can’t just leave people on read. 

“ So, Mai...” Chan started. 

It was no secret that Chan didn’t really like her and it had to do with her friendship with the princess of horrors, her inability to not express her opinion, and how said opinions were the complete opposite of his, in consequence making her a communist in his eyes even if that didn’t make any sense. Plus, he loved controlling his best friend  Ruon Jian and was probably intimidated by his crush on her. It’s stupid because it will never ever be reciprocated. _ Ever _ . 

“...What did you think of the big announcement tonight?” His tongue darted out when he finished speaking, challenging her with his eyes.

She crossed her arms and answered with complete honesty, “No different than all the other charity events.”

He raised one eyebrow, feigning ignorance. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, so you want me to spell it out now.” Mai huffed. “ Of course a narcissist won’t see what’s wrong about gathering a group of five hundred people in a room to sell them a story about women and education only for another narcissist to turn things around and make it all about themselves.”

Her friend reacted quickly by kicking her leg. Mai had forgotten that Zuko was next to Ty Lee listening to her insulting his magnificent father.

“That’s a little bit harsh... don’t you think?” Ty Lee said in between tight teeth, offering her an escapade.

Before she could answer Chan had interfered with some philosophy, “Where you see an opportunity to be a party pooper, I see success.” 

He should stick with putting nerds in lockers because verbal abuse wasn’t his thing at all, it was embarrassing to see him so proud for saying something so childish. 

Mai laid a hand on her hip, sounding smugger than she intended to. “You know me, I love shitting on everything that you love.” 

Chan was growing angrier and since he couldn’t punch her because she was a girl and her father would probably snitch on his parent’s dirt if he found out, he diverted the conversation by laying a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “What do you think?”

Ty Lee bit her lip and Mai rolled her eyes. 

“I think Mai’s right,” Zuko replied with non- chalance then took a sip of his beverage. “This was supposed to be a charity, not a rally. Regardless of it being a PR nightmare, he’s still going to win the elections.”

Despite being careless about her words Mai noticed Zuko smiling at her for a second while nobody was watching, he was being supportive. Mai smirked at him, suddenly regaining her confidence. 

Naturally, the crowd had changed the subject and dragged Zuko further into their discourse while they drifted away. When found by themselves, Ty Lee grabbed Mai’s wrist and let out a shrill squeal, “Oh  Em Gee!”

Mai raised an eyebrow with a smile, amused by her friend’s excitement, once more catching her off-guard because she lacks that capacity. “Why are you so revolutionized?”

“Why aren’t you?!” She hit Mai on her arm. Her soft personality and extremely feminized traits often made Ty Lee forget how strong she was because that hurt, even if Mai didn’t flinch. “Zuko has been staring at you all night!” 

Mai glanced from afar at Zuko, who exasperatedly rubbed the bridge of his nose while explaining something to the three girls talking to him, then back at her friend. With a smug smile, she hummed and said, “I know.”

Her friend screeched and bounced in her space. “Did you see how he defended you?!”

Mai tilted her head. “Defended me? Don’t lower the bar.”

“Even better! That means he must think like you somehow!” 

“Or that he wants to kill his father and marry his mother,” she retorts. “Don’t chant victory yet, the party has just begun and there’s still plenty of time before he changes his mind.”

“He won’t and you’re right, there is plenty of time.” Ty Lee linked her arm on Mai’s. “So let’s go inside!”

Mai complied with a groan and walked with her. 

The main hall was empty for the exception of a couple shouting at each other in the shadows of the end, the two guards standing outside a closed big wooden door, and the person in charge of the coats that was taking theirs right now. The couple's shouts were muffled by the music and the potpourri of loud conversations happening on the other side of said door. 

Her stomach was starting to ache, provoked a mix of food, alcohol, and the anticipation.

Ty Lee thanked the lady for her service and handed Mai both of their designated tokens. She put them safely in a pocket inside her purse, her role of not losing both of their stuff beginning now. Ty Lee had been implying for weeks now that she was looking to go apeshit when she stepped through that door so Mai volunteered herself.

The guards opened the doors for them and now she could hear the voices in the song that mumbled commandingly with autotune that pretty much you shall drink until you lost your frontal lobe. People heads turned because the way guards let them in was designed to grab your attention, creating excitement for the guests who wondered who would be the next person to step through that door. Her typical self would make a cynical comment about how everyone was about to be disappointed but even she couldn’t be that far removed from what usually happened. People were obsessed with them— and she was being objective, not self-absorbed. 

Mai always found that ironic, the least thing she cared about was keeping up with appearances or pleasing crowds of young adults with diffuse identities, despite that, just by being one of the two lackeys of Azula she was constantly talk of the rumor mill. It sounded pretentious but she didn’t ask to be popular, _ of course not! _ She hated everything that conveyed it.

Although it made sense it happened. She was built from scratch as a baby to become this. Her mother hated that she was so indifferent about everything but ultimately what kept her in her not-so-desired spot was how little she cared on keeping it. That was the main key to achieving popularity. 

It sounded far-fetched until you thought about it. Ty Lee was drop dead beautiful, everyone knew that  even herself, that’s exactly why she didn’t spend even a second trying to prove it. Then there’s Azula, who was brainwashed to believe she was going to conquer the world; conquering social circles was child’s play. And of course, there’s Mai, who people mistook her barriers as an invitation to approach her. She was deemed as mysterious because she didn’t give you the time of the day, and a basic bitch by girls who tried too hard and wanted desperately what she never asked for.

Take that in and mix it with the amount of status and powers their families had and naturally people would stare at them when they arrived at a place.

Girls were already judging their choice of attire; some were straight up at sneering at them over some fake drama that they’ve created in their head. Boys turned like dogs attracted to fresh meat, already making plans in their heads over which one of their friends would go for each. But the real talk began when the puppet master wasn’t deliberately making a grand entrance, instead she never arrived.

“Ty Lee! Mai!” Shouted a girl with thick curly hair and skin darker thanks to her recent trip to  St.Barths . It was Mimi, who was accompanied by Laura, both classmates that Mai considered pleasurable  company.

“Mimi!” Ty Lee jumped to hug the girl. “It’s been so long!”

Mai greeted both of them with as much warmth as she could sincerely offer. “Chica, when will you give me a real hug,” Laura insisted jokingly. 

Mai rolled her eyes with a smile, “Maybe when Mimi gets married.”

Mimi scoffed, “Oh, so in our next lives?” 

The four laughed. Yes, even Mai, because she did that every once in a while, but her style wasn’t overdoing it. 

Republic city per se wasn’t that diverse. The country of the four nations was pretty much another continent since it was a gigantic island that broke apart from what China and Japan were in Pangea, but historians were so racist and decided to group all  asian people together as part of one continent because it was easier to them than to geographically declare them properly. It was so big that it had a very diverse climate— technically had all of the climates if you took in the water tribes a thousand of kilometers in distance that were conquered almost two century ago. 

So pretty much republic city was filled with Asian people. However, her private high school was not. 

The fire nation academy was the most expensive school in the country, first founded as an act of opposition when the civil war of the four nations came to an end and republic city was created to promote peace between civilians. The fire nation academy had an history of being the strictest and most segregated school in their beginnings, even separating boys from girls. Its status grew over the years and so did the prices, in the early 90’s with the official ending of the cold war there was a building placed in between the two schools in a plan of solidifying them into one so it could be more welcoming for the sons and daughters of wealthy international businessmen that were migrating to form new business in the country. So, the school went from being nationalist mess into a center of diversity and international currency. It’s hardly a secret that some families with multiple generations attending the fire nation were not pleased with this.

By the time Mai entered school she must have been interacting with people from over 50 countries, which further elevated her mother’s disappointment when she decided to stay in the country in favor of Omashu, who had become a city famous for their student life and wild parties.

“Azula’s not coming right?” Laura asked. 

Mai shook her head side to side. “Technical difficulties.”

Laura sighed in relief, not wanting to bump into the girl who broke her heart in eleventh grade. 

“Ty Lee, what about your fiancée? When will we meet him?” Mimi asked with glee as she grabbed Ty Lee’s hands. 

Ty Lee’s smile dissolved and something inside Mai twitched upon seeing her friend change moods so fast, she was used to seeing her cheery all the time. If these were other girls asking these types of questions, Mai would have acted passive aggressive for being so openly nosey and straight up hurtful, but Mimi and Laura were the type to sit in front of the class taking notes and asking smart question too busy to check what was going on behind them. 

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Ty Lee let go of one of her hands to scratch the back of her neck. “We’re not together anymore.”

“Babe, I'm so sorry,” Laura apologized while laying a hand on her shoulder. “I suspected it because you weren’t posting pictures with him anymore but I wasn’t sure.”

“It’s his loss!” Mimi exclaimed while squeezing her hand tighter. 

Guilt hit Mai once again as she saw these two girls who were just acquaintances be more supportive to her friend than she had been when the ordeal happened. Usually during school  year they drifted apart because Mai hated texting. Ty Lee was the one that kept most contact but she had isolated herself from everyone but her friends from her former Olympics team—whom hated Mai for being too ‘emo’. They offered Ty Lee a pink padded shoulder to cry on meanwhile Mai was on an MDA bender with Kei Lo all over the region of the earth nation, known for having the best DJ's of the four nations.

At the time she couldn’t empathize with Ty Lee’s pain because she was on a shortage of serotonin from the recurrent emotional hangovers the pills gave her and because she had never broken up with somebody so she didn’t know what it felt like. Regardless, she had been a terrible friend, and Ty Lee had always been a great friend to her. Mai swallowed saliva and added, “You were too good for him.” Behind such a simple phrase laid an apology that she hoped she would catch.

Ty lee turned to look at her with a tight-lipped smile, but she could see the resentment flashing for a second. 

What were minutes suddenly turned into hours. She glanced at her phone, aware of how she lost track of time.

She was drunk but nobody could tell. On the outside she seemed like her usual dour self: quiet, observant, bitchy; but on the inside, she was having trouble seeing straight. Overall, she would rate herself a A+ drunk to take care of. She was completely self-reliant, Ty lee on the other hand...

One minute she was here, the next you begun to question if she wasn’t a figment of your imagination.

She was used to it by now so she wasn’t mad, she still had fun by herself in her own sick twisted way. Mai liked partying but not in these kinds of parties. Sometimes she met interesting new people but it was only a matter of time before they ended up getting corrupted by their affluent lifestyle. She didn’t necessarily have a god complex, far from it, she kind of hated herself most of the time, but she couldn’t relate to what they wanted; she already had it all, countless of credit cards, private jets around the world, boat rides at the beach, endless supply of drugs and everything she wanted at the palm of her hands. She was bored of this, there was no unpredictability and money was the endgame, the only thing that could ever save you.

Okay, so she may be a self-reliant drunk but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t come with a warning: Mai was a bitter, judgmental, depressed, self-loathing, no-sugar-coating, loose tongue mess of a drunk. No batteries included. 

Despite that people still weren’t ashamed to be seen with her because they thought she was hilarious... in a sexy grown-up Mafalda on anti- psychotic's type of way.

First, she was discussing with a set of identical twins whether Lyme disease was real or not. Then, she met with a former classmate she hangs out sporadically with in  Omashu . He asked her to be his wingman for a hookup with Kei Lo __ in front of his girlfriend. She had been surprised by his guts until she recalled they were in an open relationship. 

At last, she was discussing about iconic Latin American coup d'états with a renowned war journalist. The conversation ended with an invitation to another after-party, followed by a proposition for a rendezvous at his hotel room. At first, she was tempted, then she remembered that Azula would ask her tomorrow about Zuko and she wasn’t going to be pleased when she told her that instead of having a real full one on one conversation with her brother she was getting penetrated against a window with an amazing of the view the fire nation district and 24 hour champagne service.

A part of her, really wanted to say fuck you to Azula and hoped that Zuko was already inside of another Nordic chick. Hopefully, slamming her against a bathroom wall so Mai could finally get rid of the shame she still had from their encounter the other day.

Sadly, she declined but not before exchanging numbers for the next time he would be in town. 

Mai scanned the room. Her target was nowhere in sight. 

She was about to step foot outside on the backyard but her nightmare had become reality when she bumped into exactly who she had been avoiding all night: Chan’s little bitch, Ruon-Jian.

Sober Mai was already over it, you can only guess drunk Mai wasn’t in the mood of being nice. 

“Mai!” He seemed glad to have found her. He was so out of it. It didn’t help he had lost his tie. “Why have you been ignoring my calls?” He inquired. As usual, he wasn’t a fan of foreplay, so he dove right into it. 

Mai crossed her arms and tactically raised one eyebrow. “What do you think?” 

“I had rented a plane! I was going to take you to Paris and everything!” He implored, trying to guilt her into his game.

“I don’t care, you should have thought of that before tricking yourself into thinking I would ever agree to date you. And no, this isn’t me humiliating you to excite you, this is me telling you to fuck off. Got it?”

“You really are a bitch, aren’t you?” He raised his tone. “You really remind me of my mother.”

Mai stepped back. The drugs had gotten into his head, and she was sure that if she analyzed a little longer what he just said she was going to puke. 

As if on cue, a big hand intercepted on the creep's shoulder. “Is everything okay here?” 

Mai looked up and saw Zuko, overshadowed by the light behind him and clearly not up in some Nordic girl’s cooch. “Thanks, I was just finishing with him,” Mai bragged as she squinted at  Ruon -Jian. 

“You liar!”  Ruon -Jian pointed at the both of them as in making a major discovery. “ So you are indeed dating this guy!” He spat with poison.

“What?!” She shrieked, and it sounded kind of funny coming from her because it wasn’t a sound she was used to making. That’s how upset she became. 

“We just met today!” Zuko sounded shocked too. He backed her up, even though his blush betrayed he knew exactly what  Ruon -Jian was talking about. He held Ruon-Jian's shoulders and strategically calmed him down, “Look, buddy, there are other girls here and they won’t kick you in the balls like I suspect she wants to.”

He was correct. She had done her fair share of slapping misogynistic jerks and the list didn’t seem like stopping any sooner. “Run before I tell my father,” Mai threatened petulantly, knowing he wouldn’t dare to do so. 

His eyes darted between Zuko’s and Mai’s. He freed himself from Zuko’s grip and pointed at her like she was a witch, “Don’t be surprised when I block you on all social media.”

“I’ll cry.” She rolled her eyes and waved dismissively.

He sneered, shouldering past her. Zuko was about to go after him but Mai held a hand on his chest, then quickly retracted it when she realized how bold that was. That mattered, because she decided she was going to play the long haul with him. 

“I am mortified,” She said monotonously. 

Zuko chuckled. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Believe me, I am.” She sighed. “Thank you.”

“No need. I saw you from afar and it seemed like you needed some help.”

Oh, so he had been watching, huh? She thought about it for a second and deemed more convenient to play the ‘princess rescued by her knight in shining armor’ card. 

“I could use some air right now,” She suggested. 

He decided to join her, visibly concerned about her well-being. They made it to a part of the backyard that seemed less noisy. Mai laid against a giant white pillar, refraining from posing in any way that discouraged her from seeming like a born-again virgin, as suggested by her dear friend Azula. “You remembered me from before, right?” She wasn’t feeling the foreplay either thanks to the booze.

Zuko was surprised by her directiveness, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t liking it. “Before as in...?” Whether he was playing or not, he was still right. She had been too vague.

“Before tonight.” Mai liked vague, it forced him to think about what to say. 

“My sister warned me about you two.” He squinted. 

“Warn?” She inquired. 

“Yes, she said Ty Lee and you were her only friends and that you both were just as insane as her,” He told her with an air of childish playfulness. Was this the so-called chemistry her mom was talking about? Now she understood why all the fuss.

“You believe her? You saw her earlier, she’s delusional.” Unconsciously she crinkled her nose in disgust. “Do I look insane?” She interrogated, sounding more seductive than she intended.

Zuko tugged at his collar. “No, not at all.” Mai caught him quickly eyeing her up and down. “However, if I were that guy, I would be afraid.”

“He deserved that.”

“I don’t debate that. It was extremely satisfying to watch,” He congratulated her. 

Mai smirked. “So, it seemed like you had fun watching me get harassed.”

Zuko’s grin suddenly turned into a face of consternation. “N-No! I didn’t mean it like tha-”

“Relax, I’m just messing with you.” She stood up from the pillar and walked further away from him or she would do said luring poses that suggested she wasn’t a born-again virgin at all. “Are you having fun?” Mai asked since he didn’t want be here in the first place.

Zuko shrugged. “I’m not really big on partying. I guess I expected it to be more terrible.”

“Believe me, it can get worse.” She turned and looked at the moon. “The night is still young.”

“Worse than what just  happened ?”

He hasn’t seen half of it. “That was child’s play.”

“I guess being friends with my sister has prepared you for anything then.” He took her spot on the pillar,  leaning with his hands in the pockets of his suit. If Mai had to guess, he was probably wearing an Armani suit. It favored him greatly. Whatever he lacked in self-confidence he made up with his broad shoulders. 

“I have a feeling you guys don’t get along well.”

He nodded. “That’s an understatement.” He was going to say something else but hesitated, realizing it wasn’t such a good idea to talk trash about her sister with her best friend. 

She turned her head to look at him. “You know... I won’t say anything if you don’t say anything,” she offered, knowing she had a few opinions towards her friend that could be reciprocated by him. It was counterproductive to play this way, she guessed, because her entire role consisted on telling Azula everything he said, but she figured out she could embellish a few details.

He thought about it longer that he needed to. She recalled his meeting earlier with the waiter and his years-long absence. He had his own secrets he had to be careful of not spilling. 

Mai couldn’t tell if she was liking this game but at least it was exciting. 

“It’s not that I don’t like her... I just don’t understand her.”

“How so?”

“Well...” He scratched the back of his head, still trying to find the words.

Mai raised an eyebrow, suddenly regretting approaching a sensitive subject. “It’s fine if you don’t to talk about it.” She crossed her arms. 

“I find her hard to explain.” His brow furrowed in concentration as he looked to the scenery of the party. “What about you? How would you describe her?”

She accepted his reverse card and began listing her multiple traits. “Bossy, arrogant, educated, self-centered, great taste, manipulative... I can go on if you like.”

“See! That’s the issue.” He jumped upon realization. “You know her, I don’t! I’ve been trying to get closer to her but she only lets me under her own terms. That’s exactly what happened tonight!”

She could understand his frustration. Azula was tough to handle. The only person who could make her second guess herself was her father and even that wasn’t enough sometimes. 

“I think it’s too late to fix that,” Mai stated bluntly.

A look of sadness invaded his face and she got hit with guilt for being so brash with her words. “No, wait, don’t listen to me.  Of course you can get to know her better but you have to accept it has to be under her own terms or it will never happen. I guess I should have said it better.”

She felt weirdly out of character for being so apologetic to a boy. She had been wary of meeting him, a hundred of scenarios had played out in her head in the past few weeks imagining how he would be like but she had been pleasantly surprised since she was expecting the worst. He may be intense but it wasn’t off-putting, in fact, he seemed really mature and not just because he was older. 

His openness to communicate with Azula made her suspicious that this wasn’t much about learning about his backstory. Zuko told her their rift was because they lost contact when he went to boarding school and college. That was a flat out lie. Azula was the one that came up with that excuse to keep socialite members off their tracks and Mai had been the first person she openly debunked that myth with. Supposedly, Azula didn’t know the truth, so why did Zuko’s story fit with hers? She had to know more than she was letting on. 

Maybe Azula felt threatened by Zuko, rightfully so. Maybe she didn’t want to admit that she would stoop so low as to see him as a threat and did this whole thing to keep an eye on him. Whatever it was, Mai was already too deep in it to back down. 

She was so entertained talking with Zuko that she didn’t notice the sky was turning lighter as dawn approached. A breeze passed her and she shivered. 

“You’re cold. I’ll hand you my jacket.” Zuko’s eyes widened in concern and he moved quickly to remove it.

“No, it’s okay. My stuff is inside.” 

He insisted until she acquiesced. He laid his suit jacket on her shoulders and she instantly felt warm.

The night was coming to an end and it showed because her empty stomach was grumbling for food. “I am really hungry,” she complained. “I want a  hamburger .”

“I second that, we should get out of here.”

“What about the driver that’s supposed to pick us up?” Mai asked about the same man from earlier. 

“Don’t worry about it, I'll call an uber,” he said while getting closer to her. She felt the tension as he got near.  Sadly for her, he only took out his phone from his jacket. 

Mai wasn’t used on taking things slow, mostly because all of her encounters were casual and she preferred it that way. She had a feeling that Zuko was the type to not kiss on the first date, hopefully it was that, and not that he was secretly dreading her company. “You’re not in a rush, are you?” He asked.

“If I  were, I would have left already.”

“Great then we’re going to Hama’s kitchen.” He smiled at her.

She loved Hama’s kitchen; it was a hidden pearl in republic city with the best late-night fast food. There were a lot of urban legends surrounding the place and it had to do with the restaurant only being open at night. Despite being a favorite destination amongst a bunch of famous party-goers, there was some sense of secrecy towards the place because even them, that couldn’t drop their phones even when going to the bathroom, didn’t post about it on social media. Mai had only known about Hama’s kitchen out of sheer luck, so that’s why it surprised her that Zuko knew of its existence, that’s strange coming from someone that allegedly has spent more than a decade out of the country.

She thought about coaxing some information out of him, but she was tired already. Mai had relaxed knowing she would be leaving this place. Ty Lee was right when she said she shouldn’t have worrie-

Mai groaned. She forgot about Ty Lee. 

“Wait, I don’t think I can go. I’m leaving with Ty Lee.”

Zuko shrugged. “So? Tell her to come with us.”

Well, between the option of not going or getting third wheeled by Ty Lee, she guessed she preferred the latter. She called her several times and the few times she answered she just mumbled gibberish. She had to ask Zuko for help to find her and when they did, she was clearly drunk and high as hell, looking like a different person from when she just came in, in comparison, Mai was already sober. She told Mai that she wanted to stay then spoke nonsense that only proved that she should go to bed right now. Zuko just observed from the background as Mai handled her friend.

“Why are you so  boooring ?” She complained against Mai, struggling to keep balance.

“Because it’s so late that it’s already early morning,” She answered, unamused. 

“You always do this! Chan’s right you are a party pooper!” Ty Lee exclaimed.

“Uh huh,” Mai agreed. 

“Do you need some help?” Zuko asked. He was carrying their stuff in his arms. 

“Wait, you were with Zuko?!” She asked loudly, just realizing that he was present despite being in  front of her this whole time. “That’s my girl! That’s my girl!” She began swaying to hype her up.

Mai blushed, she hated when her friend embarrassed her. She knew Ty lee didn’t mean to do so but she became a walking danger whenever a party extended until dawn. Her friend was the type of drunk to disappear and wake up in another country, not recalling a single thing and accidently offending everyone in the process. It was funny, because Mai was the emotionally repressed one but Ty Lee was the one that was verbally repressed; she may show what she felt but she never said what she thought, too much toxic positivity made her a rare breed of a messy drunk whose likeability was only measured by the amount of clothing they wore. Luckily, Ty Lee was extremely liked in spite of all. 

Zuko opened the car door for them, visibly uncomfortable because he didn’t know how to help. Ty Lee crossed her arms and refused to move. “I’m not going!”

Mai frowned, she was tired and irritated. “Oh, so you’ve changed your mind again?” 

Ty Lee frowned back defiantly, she was going to answer to her but she stood quiet and swallowed a  bunch of air, puffing her cheeks. 

Zuko observed, extremely confused about what was going on. 

Ty Lee held her forefinger up, motioning for her to wait. Mai raised an eyebrow. Before she could make up what her friend was doing, she bent over and vomited all over her. It had been so disgusting that Zuko couldn’t refrain from gagging.

Mai opened her mouth in shock, standing quiet for a few seconds.

“Oh my god, I'm so so-” Ty Lee tried to apologize but couldn’t even finish before vomiting all over again, this time, not on her.

“For fuck’s sake! I asked you if you wanted to vomit!” Mai yelled at her, her patience having ran its course. 

Ty Lee started crying and Mai clenched her jaw because once again the one paying for Ty Lee’s drunken consequences was her. She looked down and saw that the vomit had reached her dress and Zuko’s jacket. She looked at Zuko apologetically. “I’m sorry I don’t think she meant to vomit on your jacket.”

Zuko laughed, half from nerves, half from amusement. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. Why don’t you try to convince the driver to take us home in this state and meanwhile I'll go clean up quickly.”

Zuko agreed and as she stepped away, she could listen to him awkwardly trying to comfort Ty Lee. Once in the nearest bathroom, she tried to get rid of the puke with paper towels, trying to not damage the fabric. If this happened last year she would have been sort of glad, but this year, her mother finally designed a dress she liked and now it was filled with vomit. Not only that, Zuko’s jacket had been damaged too, how embarrassing. 

She thought everything was going to be okay for a change and that things would finally work out without any inconvenience; she had been wrong and now she had to go home smelling terrible instead of eating burgers in a sketchy joint with Zuko. 

She looked in the mirror and sighed. “Whatever.”

When she got back, they were already waiting for her in the car. The driver looked at her with disgust and Mai accepted it. Ty Lee kept crying on the way home and Mai was too tired to console her; whatever happened tonight wasn’t a first and whatever she was crying for was definitely not over this. She is going to have a serious conversation with her friend tomorrow when she’s able to form fully coherent phrases.

There was a moment when Ty Lee went quiet. Zuko, who was in the co-pilots seat, looked behind to meet her eyes with a smile. 

Mai smiled back. “I told you the night could go worse. I’ll have your coat dry-cleaned as soon as  possible .”

“No! It’s okay, I don’t care!”

“Please, I insist,” Mai said, basically begging to keep for whatever was left of her dignity.

Ty Lee started crying again which forced Zuko to say yes. 

A few minutes later Zuko and Ty Lee fell asleep, his head was pressed against the window and Ty Lee took up two thirds of the back seat. There were 10 minutes of car ride left and Mai wished she could fall asleep as easily as them but it was probably better that she stayed awake. “Rough night?” The driver asked.

“The usual.” Mai shrugged as she observed stores opening and people going to work. She wondered what would happen after tonight, maybe she won’t see Zuko again, maybe Ty Lee would tell her to fuck off. 

“Why can’t nobody love me...” She heard Ty Lee mumble in her sleep. 

Mai’s heart clenched. That wasn’t true, she loved her and that’s big coming from her because she hated everyone. She scooted closer and laid her friends head on her thighs. She observed her face for a minute, black mascara marked the tears she shed. There was a deep look of sadness in her that she had been trying to convey after all these months. Mai cursed at herself for ignoring the truth for so long, this had been a cry for help.

Ty Lee mumbled something again and Mai focused on her words. “What Ty?”

“Mai..”

“...”

“Shower...”

Mai frowned, disappointed because she didn’t say anything she didn’t known already. 

When they arrived at her house, Mai quickly stepped off and grabbed her friend who was barely awake. She figured it was better to let her stay in her house, Ty Lee’s house was at the end of the condo but she wouldn’t put it past her to get in trouble. 

“Tell him I said thanks when he wakes up,” Mai instructed the driver. 

She was putting the key on the gated door before Zuko yelled, “Mai, wait!”

She turned around and saw a sleepy Zuko rolling down the window. She approached the car, keeping an eye on Ty Lee who was sitting in the grass. She leaned against the frame of the window. 

“The party... it was terrible,” Zuko said softly.

Mai grimaced, not expecting that. 

“No, wait! I mean... It was terrible! But I had fun with you... that’s what I meant to say.” He blushed and turned away from her gaze. 

Mai looked composed but she was pressing her heel against the asphalt, her heart skipping a beat. “I had fun too.”

He grinned. “Maybe one day we’ll get that burger.”

“One day.” She smirked. “Take care.” She stepped away from the car and joined her friend once again, not before looking back as the car took off. 

She tried to get inside without making much noise. Once in her room, she helped Ty Lee get off her dress and left their dirty  clothes in her tub. 

Ty Lee slept soundly next to her while Mai’s brain was running a marathon. The mix of emotions she felt tonight left her worried that she had gotten in a mess that even she couldn’t have conceived beforehand. The truth is that she has never felt this way before with anybody. A part of her wondered if it was because of the temptation of not touching each other, the other wondered if it was because she genuinely liked Zuko beyond a physical plane.

She could have questioned it all day if she had the time. But the truth is that she didn’t have an answer. So, she just settled by closing her eyes, knowing there would be time to worry later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finallyyy! I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter but at least it's finished now. There are some parts that I love, others that I hate but I care more about your opinion guys! So, really, any sort of criticsm even if it's not constructive, I would appreciate it so much. Also would love to know what are you expectations or whatever. I know I post like once in a month or maybe further but this is the longest fic i've ever written in my life so i guess i'm proud for even following it because i was this close to not updating anymore lol 
> 
> Um chile anyways so.... Love y'all.
> 
> (Also if you think the title of this chapter is rhony reference it's because it is)


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